The Redemption Project

Brandon Burley

The Redemption Project is an award-winning podcast recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Awards as Best Podcast of 2025. Hosted by Brandon Burley, TRP tells redemption stories, explains civic systems clearly, hosts fair public conversations and highlights people doing good work in Tennessee and beyond. Across its seasons, the show explores second chances, faith, government, economics, criminal justice, elections, leadership and the public systems shaping everyday life. The goal is simple: clarity over outrage, understanding over tribalism and

  1. 2d ago

    TRP S2E12: Redemption Story — Chad Roberts: From Meth, Prison and Brokenness to Ministry

    Chad Roberts joins The Redemption Project for a Season 2 Redemption Story about childhood brokenness, addiction, crime, incarceration, faith, treatment and what it means to become the kind of man he once needed. Chad grew up in a home where drugs, violence and spiritual darkness were part of his early life. He says his father introduced him to marijuana and alcohol when he was young, and by his teenage years, Chad was selling drugs, using meth and eventually manufacturing it. His life moved through addiction, arrests, jail, broken relationships, fatherhood, military service, relapse and a long pattern of running until he says he had nothing left. But Chad’s story does not end there. After a series of arrests, court cases and spiritual breaking points, Chad entered treatment, rebuilt his life through faith and began helping other men in recovery. He now works with a men’s recovery program, is pursuing counseling certification in Georgia and speaks openly about the mentors, pastors and father figures God placed in his life when he needed them most. This conversation is about more than getting sober. It is about generational brokenness, accountability, discipleship, fatherhood, tough love, second chances and the long road from survival to service. This is a story about what happens when a man who once helped spread destruction becomes part of someone else’s recovery. The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

    53 min

  2. May 24

    TRP S5E01: Tennessee Good Work — Katie Growden on Voter Engagement and Civic Voice

    Katie Growden joins The Redemption Project for the first episode of Season 5: Tennessee Good Work. Katie serves as the Tennessee state manager for Save the Children Action Network, an advocacy organization working at the grassroots level to connect people with the systems and policies that affect young children and families. In this conversation, she explains why voter participation matters, why many registered voters still do not make it to the polls, and how ordinary citizens can begin asking better questions of the people seeking public office. The discussion covers Tennessee’s low voter turnout, the importance of local elections, how voters can research candidates, why primaries matter, and how civic engagement becomes more accessible when people are given clear tools instead of shame or confusion. This episode fits the heart of Season 5: highlighting people who are helping others, strengthening communities and reminding citizens that public life is not only about conflict. Sometimes good work looks like helping people understand that they are smart, important and have something to say. The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

    45 min

  3. May 22

    TRP S4E13: Civic Conversations — Civil Miller-Watkins, U.S. Senate Candidate

    Civil Miller-Watkins joins The Redemption Project for a Season 4 Civic Conversations episode about her campaign for the U.S. Senate, her background as an eighth grade math teacher, and the issues she believes Tennessee families are carrying to the kitchen table. Miller-Watkins lives in Fayette County in rural West Tennessee and describes her campaign through the lens of education, family, health care access, jobs, rural hospitals, student safety and the future facing Tennessee’s children and grandchildren. In the conversation, she discusses her family’s history in politics and civil rights, her time serving on the school board, her experience reading budgets and writing policy, and why she believes representation should include rural Tennesseans, young people, working families and communities that may not always feel heard. The conversation also covers school safety, common-sense gun policy, whether elected officials can be both leaders and representatives, how candidates should reach outside their usual echo chambers, and why she uses the phrase “your vote is your voice.” Miller-Watkins argues that civic participation begins one voter at a time, and that voting shapes everything from schools and jobs to health care, roads, public safety and local quality of life. This episode is part of TRP’s Civic Conversations season, where candidates and public figures are given space to explain how they think, what they prioritize and how they would approach public service. The Redemption Project is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast.

    39 min
  4. TRP S4E12: Civic Conversations — Tennessee Gubernatorial Roundtable

    May 21

    TRP S4E12: Civic Conversations — Tennessee Gubernatorial Roundtable

    What happens when Tennessee gubernatorial candidates from different political lanes are asked the same voter-submitted questions, under the same rules, in the same room? That was the purpose of this live roundtable from The Redemption Project: give voters a structured, fair conversation instead of another campaign soundbite. Most of the questions were submitted and voted on by viewers. The candidates discussed Tennessee’s future, public policy, leadership, government responsibility, and where they believe the state should go next. The final question focused on reducing recidivism and improving reentry, an issue close to the heart of TRP’s mission. One of the most revealing moments came during the yes/no/maybe section, where candidates from very different political perspectives agreed far more often than many voters might expect. Their short explanations showed not only what they believe, but how they think about governing. The Redemption Project exists to tell redemption stories, explain civic systems clearly, host fair public conversations and highlight people doing good work. TRP is the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Award winner for Best Podcast. Watch or listen to the full conversation and decide for yourself.

    1h 12m
  5. TRP S2E11: Redemption Story — Kendra and Amanda — Going to Jail Saved My Life

    May 10

    TRP S2E11: Redemption Story — Kendra and Amanda — Going to Jail Saved My Life

    In this long-form episode of The Redemption Project, Brandon Burley sits down with Kendra and Amanda, two women in early recovery whose lives were shaped by addiction, incarceration, and the long road back to stability. Both women share candidly about heroin, meth, fentanyl, jail time, overdoses, and the moments that forced them to confront lives that were no longer sustainable. For Kendra, going to jail became the interruption that saved her life. For Amanda, recovery came through repeated loss, relapse, and finally choosing structure over chaos. The conversation moves beyond sobriety into the realities many people never see: navigating court dates, rebuilding family relationships, faith that’s still forming, employment barriers as a felon, motherhood from a distance, and the fear of whether change will actually last. This episode isn’t about clean resolutions or easy answers. It’s about what it looks like when redemption is still in progress—and why accountability, support, and second chances matter when the stakes are real. Season 2 of The Redemption Project focuses on long-form conversations that allow space for complexity, honesty, and the slow work of rebuilding life after incarceration.

    25 min
  6. TRP S1E13: Redemption Story — Lyon’s Second Chance —“I Got Tired of Being Sick and Tired”

    May 3

    TRP S1E13: Redemption Story — Lyon’s Second Chance —“I Got Tired of Being Sick and Tired”

    After leaving recovery too early, falling back into addiction, and eventually ending up on the run again, Lyon reached a point he describes simply: sick and tired of being sick and tired. In this episode of The Redemption Project, he explains how fentanyl, cocaine, repeated arrests, and years of instability kept pulling him backward until he finally returned to Men of Valor, this time ready to stay. He talks openly about losing multiple family members within weeks of each other, resisting the urge to run back to old habits, leaning on faith instead of addiction, and finding strength through structure, brotherhood, and accountability. Now preparing for graduation, writing Christian hip-hop, and hoping to stay involved helping others, Lyon explains what changed between the first time he entered recovery and the second. The Redemption Project shares real stories of accountability, faith, recovery, and the difficult path back.

    17 min
  7. TRP S2E10: Redemption Story —After Being Robbed at Gunpoint, She Chose Jail Ministry

    Apr 26

    TRP S2E10: Redemption Story —After Being Robbed at Gunpoint, She Chose Jail Ministry

    Years after being robbed at gunpoint, Susan Stoner found herself drawn toward a place many people would never choose to enter voluntarily: a county jail. In this episode of The Redemption Project, she explains why that traumatic experience did not harden her, but instead deepened her desire to serve women behind bars through Jesus Is the Way Ministries, where she now helps lead weekly Bible teaching, prayer, worship, and encouragement inside the jail. Susan talks about what she has witnessed over the past year: women helping each other through Scripture, tears during testimony, first-time decisions for Christ, and the quiet reality that many incarcerated women are carrying deep wounds long before they ever enter a cell. The conversation also explores why ministry inside correctional settings matters, what volunteers see that many outside never do, and why second chances often begin with someone simply showing up consistently. The Redemption Project shares real stories of accountability, faith, recovery, and the difficult path back.

    31 min
  8. TRP S4E11: Civic Conversations — Lauren Pinkston — Candidate for Governor

    Apr 25 ·  Bonus

    TRP S4E11: Civic Conversations — Lauren Pinkston — Candidate for Governor

    A special political interview edition of The Redemption Project. In this episode of Candidate Conversations, Lauren Pinkston joins me for a long-form discussion on Tennessee’s future through the lens of energy, infrastructure, education, and independent politics. We discuss her proposal for underground data centers, grid modernization, TVA policy, nuclear energy, water use, farmland preservation, rural development, school vouchers, public education reform, ranked-choice voting, gun policy, and what she believes an independent path to statewide victory looks like in Tennessee. The conversation also explores how an independent candidate builds a coalition in a state often described as deeply partisan, why she argues Tennessee’s political middle is larger than many assume, and why she believes governance should focus more on practical solutions than party identity. This episode also includes rapid-fire voter questions, short-answer policy responses, and a closing discussion on faith, leadership, and political culture in Tennessee. More candidate conversations are coming.

    36 min
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About

The Redemption Project is an award-winning podcast recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists East Tennessee Golden Press Card Awards as Best Podcast of 2025. Hosted by Brandon Burley, TRP tells redemption stories, explains civic systems clearly, hosts fair public conversations and highlights people doing good work in Tennessee and beyond. Across its seasons, the show explores second chances, faith, government, economics, criminal justice, elections, leadership and the public systems shaping everyday life. The goal is simple: clarity over outrage, understanding over tribalism and

Information

  • Creator
    Brandon Burley
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    48
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Brandon Burley
  • Show Website
    The Redemption Project